Homelessness Policy Overview
This page will be an attempt to gather various official opinions and stances concerning issues that affect the homeless in San Francisco. Everyone is asked and encouraged to edit the page and make additions and corrections. Please do not include statements that are inflammatory or judgmental. Please use the talk page for that, or the SF Homeless Discussion Board. If the text of a matter becomes too large, it may be necessary to create a separate page for that topic and link to it, leaving only a summary on this page. Again, please feel free to click on "edit this page" tab located on the top of this page to make changes. Please do not be offended if I or someone else should pre-fill the policies with incomplete information. It is up to the real experts to fill in the appropriate information. Thank you. DavidBeall 10:22, 3 March 2008 (UTC) Main Stakeholders and their Mission Statements *Interagency Council on Homelessness: :Summary of viewpoint regarding national homelessness problem: Contends that resources, innovation, and better planning are more available than ever before, and urges adoption of one-stop strategies to coordinate resources at the street level for consumers which would concentrate the new resources being invested. *Mayor's office: :Summary of mission related to homelessness: Advocates a "Housing First" approach that provides for permanent supportive housing and accompanying wrap around social services as the most effective way to get more people off the streets and on the road toward self-sufficiency. Mayor Gavin Newsom sums up his perspective in his 2008 State of the City statement on Poverty with a slogan: "Shelters solve sleep. Housing solves homelessness." *Mayor's Office of Housing (MOH): :Mission: Provides financing for the development, rehabilitation and purchase of affordable housing in San Francisco; guides and coordinates the City's housing policy; administers a variety of programs to finance the development of affordable housing by non-profit and for profit developers; provides financial and educational assistance to first-time home buyers; finances housing rehabilitation costs for low-income homeowners; and is responsible for monitoring and ensuring the long-term affordability and physical viability of the City's stock of affordable housing. *Board of Supervisors: * District 1 Eric Mar * District 2 Michela Alioto-Pier * District 3 Board President David Chiu * District 4 Carmen Chu * District 5 Ross Mirkarimi * District 6 Chris Daly * District 7 Sean Elsbernd * District 8 Bevan Dufty * District 9 David Campos * District 10 Sophie Maxwell * District 11 John Avalos *San Francisco Department of Public Health: :Services Mission: Administers a number of special projects and contracts with community-based organizations to deliver a variety of services to homeless persons, including some clinics and the Tom Waddell Health Center. *Department of Human Services: :Mission:Each year serves almost 100,000 San Franciscans who suffer hardship or who have been unable to participate fully in the social and economic life of the community. ::Housing & Homeless Services: :::Programs:Emergency Shelter for Single Adults in San Francisco, Help for Homeless Families, Project Homeless Connect, Bus Ticket Home, Help getting Transitional Housing, Homeless Rental Assistance or Subsidies, Housing for Low-Income Adults and Families. *Local Homeless Coordinating Board: :Mission:Works "to ensure a unified homeless strategy that is supported by the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, City departments, nonprofit agencies, people who are homeless or formerly homeless and the community at large." *Shelter Monitoring Committee: :Mission: The Shelter Monitoring Committee is an independent vehicle charged with documenting the conditions of shelters and resource centers to improve the health, safety, and treatment of residents, clients, staff, and the homeless community. The Committee's mission is to undertake this work recognizing individual human rights and promoting a universal standard of care for shelters and resource centers in the City and County of San Francisco. *Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco (COH): :Initiates program and policy changes that result in the creation of exits from poverty. The COH unites homeless people and service providers with concerned community members in outreach, advocacy, and community organizing activities to ensure that low-income communities are in a leadership position in the work to promote social justice in San Francisco. *Others: :San Francisco Rent Board ::Mission: Implements the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. San Francisco has no commercial rent control. Supportive Housing *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Shelters Types, Availability, and Closures *10 Year Plan: Buster's Place *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Shelter Standard of Care *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Medical Resources *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Legal Matters Coummunity Court Chronicle article April 25, 2008, Report on the Status of Community Court Public Inebriation Tickets *Definition: *Mayor's office: *DA's office: *Advocates: *Others: Camping *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Loitering *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Laura's Law *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Other Jurisdiction Models New York City *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Portland *Definition: *Mayor's office: *Advocates: *Others: Category:Homeless Policy and Legislation